NOLA Bound

photo credit

Sunday afternoon my BFF and I will board a Delta flight and be on our way to Cajunland to cheer on our beloved Crimson Tide. To say we are excited is a complete understatement. Our crimson, white and houndstooth is all packed and ready to go. We've got a full itinerary (thanks, BB) of stuff to do including some big NOLA hot spots. On tap for cheering the TIDE on is a VIP event at The House of Blues since we currently don't have tickets for the game, but you never know that could change. Either way, it'll be awesome to be in NOLA with tons of devoted fans...even if some of them will be wearing purple and gold. Since my BFF hasn't been before, this should be quite the adventure. Here's to hoping we leave NOLA with some BAMA National Championship gear and that the Tigers drown in their own "hometown".

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

Hello, October

I am not 100% sure how in the world we've ended up in October. I can't believe the leaves are starting to change, the weather is getting nicer and I'm currently wearing a scarf. But alas, it is true.

So far, October hasn't been so bad. Here's why.

Miss Kona turned 1 on October 1st. It's hard to believe our precious poodle baby is already a year old! To celebrate her birthday, Miss Kona enjoyed a delicious Frosty Paw and some hangout time with Mommy and Daddy!

photo credit

The Crimson Tide is now 5-0. While I was a little nervous at the start of the game this past weekend against the Gators, my beloved Tide pulled off a great victory and are now sitting in the #2 spot in the rankings. Way to go BAMA!










My Half Marathon training is right on track. I logged 5 miles yesterday on a slightly hilly course but post run felt great! This week I'm looking to log a total of 13 miles with my longest run being on Saturday at 6 miles. Thank goodness when I get finished with these longer runs I have my awesome Zoot Compression socks to put on! They are truly amazing!





I've also joined Weight Watchers in hopes to drop the rest of these unwanted pounds sooner than later. So far, I'm down 2lbs last week and a total of 1.2lbs overall. I've been trying to make real adjustments in my eating habits but know that there will be days (usually Saturdays) that I just go all out and eat whatever I want. I really try to keep my eating and working out on track all week long so that on my 'cheat' days I don't feel so bad!

There's still 28 days left in this month and I'm really hoping that the first 3 will be indicative of the rest. Here's to looking forward to sweaters, more scarfs, more victories for the Tide, strong runs and pounds lost.

Crazy Man

My hubby is nuts, in a good way. He's obsessed with triathlons and training for them. He's currently putting in hours upon hours to get ready for his first Ironman .... Ironman Florida this upcoming November in Panama City, FL. He's got a few more races this year before the Big Dance in November.  It makes me proud to see him so dedicated to something he really enjoys...and happy that it's a healthy choice (although its quite pricey).

At Chattanooga Waterfront Tri -- July 2011

TGIF

Thankful it is Friday to be quite honest. I'm looking forward to a quiet night at home. Maybe ordering in and finishing up embossing our wedding programs. I can't remember the last Friday I've had at the house with Mike and Kona. Needless to say, I think it's much needed.

photo credit

Also on tap this weekend is a trip to the Ted for an afternoon Braves game on Saturday. While I'm not the biggest baseball fan, I go for the beer and peanuts! I'll also be heading to my parents for the third Sunday in a row to finish up gift baskets and wedding stuff. Really down to the wire with only 15 days so we'll be getting into full gear of final stuff, organizing and making sure we have everything we need. I've also got a birthday party for a friend/ex-coworker of mine's 3yr old son, Maddox! Should be good times!


Outside of wedding planning, my life is still crazy. My job is in an uproar with change and good things, but none the less, still nuts. In a nutshell, my boss has accepted another position within the company effect May 1st and that means my reporting manager is in limbo. Not to mention, I have an intern starting, Rebecca, on May 23rd for the summer. I'm going to be out of the office for a total of 18 consecutive days ... yes, you read that right. So needless to say, work life is just as hectic as my wedding planning life and life in general. Hoping to get all of my name change stuff started prior to Rebecca's start date so I can get all of that mess in order...who knew how much of a hassle changing a name could be! Geeze!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Next week I think I'll do a 'spotlight' on some of my favorite people and some good wedding project wrap ups!

Yeah, What She Said.

My sweet friend and fellow BAMA Alum blogged today about her take on the happening at Auburn. I am in 100% agreement. While I am a passionate Alabama Alumni and fan, stooping this low over a rivalry is a bit out of line. Hate it for all the Auburn grads, fans and students. I know that the tradition of rolling Toomer's Corner was big to them as are many of the Alabama traditions that we uphold.

Dinner, Jousting, Comedy and Super Bowl Sunday....

I'm going to manage to have date night, watch a jousting match, get in on some improv comedy and watch the Super Bowl ALL in one weekend. Sounds exhausting already!

photo via here

Tonight Mike and I have date night. A nice way to end a rainy and cold Friday! We usually keep it low key on Friday's so I'm pretty excited to hang out with him tonight and Baby Kona after dinner. We're going to try out Highland Tap for dinner. We've gone for drinks before but never for a full meal. The rumor on the street is that they have great burgers and steaks!

photo via here 

Saturday is hopefully going to be a prettier day here in Atlanta than it was today. I plan on getting up early and hitting up bootcamp to get my metabolism in gear for what the rest of the day will hold. A lot of our friends are turning 30 this year so with that comes fun 30th birthday parties. The one we're going to Saturday night is a surprise party at Medieval Times. What is Medieval Times you might ask? Well it's 2 hrs of jousting in a makeshift 11th century style Medieval Spain castle. Fully equipped with a 4-course meal and hopefully crowns and tiaras. Only caveat...booze is pricey and there is NO silverware...as in, you eat with your hands. Needless to say, I'm stashing some from the office as my nails are too pretty to get nasty turkey leg under neath the nails and my clothes are too nice to have grease running down them!  We're also hitting up another birthday party post jousting and turkey legs. We'll be meeting up with another group for some laughs and hopefully not too embarrassing of a time at Whole World Theatre in downtown Atlanta. Looking forward to so improv comedy. Never been here but we were assured it will be a good time. I'll give you my full report post weekend.

Also this weekend is the clash of the cheese heads and steel makers. The XLV Super Bowl will I'm sure be boring as usual. Sadly, I'm not really a fan of either team so I'll be sporting gold since it is neutral for both teams. I really watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, though the last 2 years I've been quite disappointed with what the advertisers have come up with. Budweiser has already started their "teaser" commercials...even those aren't enticing. The one good thing about Super Bowl Sunday, Glee will have a new episode post game and it looks like Michael Jacksons' Thriller will be jammed out by the lungs of the cast. We're attending a party hosted by our sweet friends Jon and Erin at their home. Can't wait to help cook up some goodies and hang out with our friends. Here's to hoping it'll be nice enough to hang out by the fire pit rather than everyone being inside!

Who are you cheering for? 

images via here

images via here

Happy Friday and hope you guys have a great weekend!

Alumni Pride

Most people probably wouldn't care that their High School was in the State Playoffs for football. Most people probably never went to one, let alone ALL of their High School football games...and then some! Well, then there's me! I'm proud to say, even more than before...that I'm happy and honored to be a CHS Alumni!

I grew up with football and sports in general. My parents embedded in my brothers and my head that football was THE thing come fall time! Well...I still believe that. My brother is a mere 4 years older than me. We attended the same High School, just a few years apart. While he was in High School (at Chattahoochee) he played and started on the football team every year.When football season was over, he moved indoors to the wrestling mat! Once it was my turn at CHS, I cheered and become an athletic trainer for wrestling and soccer. I have been to more CHS games/matches, etc. than I can count...between the 8 years that both my brother and I were at CHS.

For the first time in school history, the CHS football team made it to the state AAAA football finals at the Georgia Dome. Mike and I suited up in our white shirts for the 'CHS White Out' and headed down on Marta for what I hoped would be a night in CHS history books! With an awesome score of 24-0 against the favored Starrs Mill High School, Chattahoochee had this one in the bag come the 2nd Quarter. The team looked great and you could tell the energy was high in the air!

Once the game was won and Starrs Mill HS was left licking the wounds of a defeat...the CHS students, players and fans rejoiced with a PERFECT 15-0 season and the first CHS State Football Championship!

It was awesome to see all the fans, parents of players, the HS students and all the alumni that showed up. I was able to catch up with a few of my old coaches and friends as well.

So, congrats Chattahoochee. A job well done and much deserved. I only hope that the students understand how awesome this is a few years from now! As an alumni, its pretty cool to see....as a student/player, I can only imagine the joy and pride they have!

A little of this, A little of that

This past week and a half has been a total whirlwind. From Mexico to Tuscaloosa, Cirque du Soleil to concerts and Harry Potter 7. Needless to say I'm Thankful for all that I'm able to do in my life. Here are some photo recaps of my past few days. I still owe you the ones from Mexico, don't think I've forgotten :)

On Thursday, Kerri, Mike and I headed to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama vs. Georgia State massacre, I mean game. Unfortunately, Lauren was too under the weather to go and though we all wanted her to and I know she was so upset, she decided to be responsible and stay. We missed you, L!

The Communications School at UA, where I (and Lauren) spent most of our time

My childhood BFF and fiance acting like fools in Tuscaloosa.

Denny Chimes, my favorite thing on campus

So happy we finally made it to a game!

Love her!

all snuggled up to watch the Tide

with Alison, one of my good college buddies!

all is complete, now that he's been to a game, we can get married :)

ROLL TIDE!

I love that my friends also love my kinda music...COUNTRY! Kerri, Tricia and I (missed you, Cassie!) hit up the Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan Concert. Needless to say a few Miller Lites later and lots of singing...the concert ended with a bang and a cover of Kid Rock! Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night! 

Kerri and I

at the concert!

our camera friend told us to do something crazy...this was all we had :)

Luke Bryan!

what a cutie and homegrown Georgia boy to boot!

what an entrance, Jason Aldean

good ole Georgia boy, Jason Aldean

Tricia and I

They even played together!

even Bobby Cox was there!!

Still working on my Mexico re-cap...promise it'll be up this week!

Really excited about what the following week holds. Thanksgiving is a great time to hang with friends and family and I'm happy to say my bff Brit is in town and I can't WAIT to see her! Also on tap, Happy Hour at the St. Regis hotel with some of the girls and the Iron Bowl!

What do you have planned for the upcoming holiday week!?

While I enjoyed the Mexico sun and fun, it's nice to be home where everyone speaks your language and you don't have to worry about getting sick off the food/water on a regular basis. I'll be sure to upload some photos from our trip in a bit so you can see what we got into while in Tulum, Mexico.

This year has FLOWN by! I can't believe next week we'll be bellying up to a table for Thanksgiving Dinner. But before that happens and before I blow a TON of money at the mall on Friday, I've got to get through the next few days! My bestie from LA will be here next week and I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HER!!!!!!

Tomorrow Lauren, Kerri, Mike and I head to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama vs. Georgia State football game. Yes, I realize this is going to be a massacre of a game, and while yes, I realize that it's silly for taking the day off to go...I'm going anyways! We got tickets through some other friends and I can't wait to get back to Tuscaloosa! I haven't been in a game in Bryant-Denny Stadium since 2005. I've been to other SEC games and even down to Jacksonville to watch the Tide play, but I'm ecstatic to be heading back to my old college stomping grounds and having a good time. Not to mention, this will be Mike's first trip to Tuscaloosa!

Friday night is surprise date night. Mike has had this planned for months! I have a sneaky suspicion of what it might be, but I guess I'll have to wait to fully find out. Here's what I know...it's an indoor/outdoor event and we've got to leave at 5:30pm. My guess, Cirque du Soleil's OVO show at Atlantic Station, but who knows, I could be wrong, but I sure hope I'm right! Check back to see how I did at the guessing game on Monday!

photo from google.com

Saturday is Friendsgiving. What's Friendsgiving you ask...well it's when 50 of our friends get together for a pot-luck style dinner. It typically turns into mayhem and craziness but none-the-less a good time. While my time at Friendsgiving will be cut short this year, I hope that everyone else has a blast and I'll be sure to link up to some photos after it happens. Also on tap, Jason Aldean/Luke Bryan concert on Saturday night (hence why I'll not be at Friendsgiving very long!) with Kerri and Tricia! Can't wait to party and see some of country musics hottest singers right now! Kerri's dad scored us some tickets to the show and if its anything like our last concert trip to the same arena when we saw Keith Urban...watch out! I'm also hoping to watch Harry Potter 7 this weekend. While I wont get to see it with Stephanie since she's in Egypt, I'll be sure to skype her and say Harry Potter in my famous English creepy voice!

I hope to be able to blog more in the coming days once all this mess gets out of the way and I have some free time on my hands while on Thanksgiving break!

All of this makes my head spin round just looking at what's going on for the next week or so. Then its on to Thanksgiving and December and Santa will be here before we know it. Wedding meets ramp up big time next month as well as a trip to Nashville to see Garth Brooks! Can't wait to see what the rest of 2010 holds and even more excited about 2011!!

The Countdown is On!

After doing my usual check email and google-reading routine in the AM, I checked the knot.com to see how many more days til I become Mrs. Morris. The number at hand...208. 208 days til I officially become a wife and change my name from Melissa Evans to Melissa Morris. I was elated to see this number has dropped from the 364 that it was and then GASPED when I realized I have 4 pages...very long and detailed pages...of work to still do to make this day happen how it should! 4 pages of stuff shouldn't be too hard to tackle, right? Well, for the average person who is around oh, 80% of the time...not a problem. But when you're me and you don't have a free weekend til January, yeah, this task seems much more daunting. Either way, it has to get done and by golly you better believe I'll make it happen. Sooooooo get ready friends. Cause operation countdown has begun and we've got 208 days til we can walk down the aisle with everything done!

Top of the list is working out. My dress when I bought it was snug. It fit, but it wasn't roomy to say the least. I've got to get my gameface on and drop a few pounds so that when April rolls up and our wedding day is here, I'll fit in my dress like a dream and make the entrance I've always wanted to. How might I be accomplishing this you might ask? Well, lets start with the fact that the alarm will be going off at 6 am 4 days a week for the next oh, 206 days (figure I'd give myself the 2 day cushion before the wedding...HA!). My plan is to run at least 2-3 miles 4 days a week and a longer run on the weekend. So far, so good. Got some new running shoes at Big Peach Running Company where they do a total foot analysis and running analysis to make sure you get the right kicks. I ended up with these little gems. A nice new pair of New Balance 759 training shoes. Not only do they look good, they feel good and fit me right. From the way I run and stand, she said they're the best fit for me. They've got about 500 miles til we get a new pair, but I think they'll do for now.

Not only will I be running in the Am, I'll also be training and running in a few races. Here's my list so far.

-Thanksgiving Day 5K (November 2010)
-Virginia Highlands Christmas 5K (December 2010)

-Charles Harris run for Leukemia 10K (February 2011)

-Publix 1/2 Marathon (March 2011)

Definitely manageable and definitely a challenge for me, especially the 1/2 marathon. I think I can do it. I'll fit in that dress like a charm come April!

So no more time to write this morning, got to check a few things off the list today. I'll be sure to keep updating on my progress both in the training and wedding side.

70.3 Miiles...In ONE Day!

Mike has become a bit of a triathlon nut over the past 2 years. He got the itch and full on 'rash' after his first tri in June of 2009. Since then, he has competed in many triathlons; mostly sprints and olympic distance...that is, until next weekend. He has signed up for the 70.3 Augusta 1/2 Ironman.

1.2 mile Swim, 56 mile Bike, 13.1 mile Run...in ONE DAY! 70.3 miles in one day...talk about nuts. With only 8 hours allotted to complete the course, Mike plans on finishing between 6.5 and 7 hours. Given this is his first "serious endurance" race as I like to call it...I'm a bit nervous. The sprint tri's he normally does are too short to get into, the olympic distance tri's are about 3 hours and just the right amount of time. This one being 7 hours or so...could get interesting. 7 hours to hang by myself, make some friends with other tri-widows and tri fans and maybe finish a good book or two! What's a tri widow you ask? Oh, it's a wife, fiance or girlfriend who has to do things alone while their significant other trains for such endurance events. This course is a little better than some of the tri's he's done previously because it has a loop so I can see and verbally encourage him more than once on this long race. Here are some pictures from previous races Mike's competed in.

I'm constantly amazed at his focus, determination and drive to do these demanding races. They are physical, yet mostly, I believe a mental race and Mike has the mental side down! So as he finishes up his last week of training for the race, I stand by, let him train and wish him health and strength to finish the Augusta 70.3 Ironman with pride.

Friday Favorites : Favorite Football Team

a little early this week....

I L-O-V-E football season!

Fall is my favorite time of year. Not just because the weather cools down and the leaves change, but because it's FOOTBALL SEASON! I was raised that on Saturday's in the fall, you spend your time watching ESPN and any other channel with the beloved pigskin game on. Both of my parents graduated from Florida State University (go noles) so I still root for them, however, my heart lies in Dixie with the CRIMSON TIDE!!

I graduated from the Capstone in 2006 with such pride and joy in my heart not only for my college and my education, but for my team (and all the athletic teams there too!). Not only did the Crimson Tide go undefeated this past season, but they whooped up on the FL Gators (BOOOOO) at the Georgia Dome for the SEC Championship. Thanks to Keith, my best friends dad, Kerri and I got to go to the game! There is nothing better than hearing 'Yea Alabama' as the Tide takes the field to dominate another opponent!

The Tide also brought home the bacon last year with the Big National Championship...WOOOO HOOO. Here's to hoping they can do it again!

So with that, I leave you with a big ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!